While reading an article on The Huffington Post, I saw these pictures of some really great billboards: some old, some new. In terms of visual rhetoric and using images to convey meaning, I think they serve as some pretty cool examples. Check out all of the images here.
I used to think that augmented reality technology was just a gimmick. OK, I still think it's a gimmick, but I have to admit that it's a pretty cool gimmick with potential to become legitimately useful communications technology.
For those of you not in the know, augmented reality is (in a tiny nutshell) the use of digital technology to alter the view of the real world in some way. For example, you look through a view-finder or at the screen of a digital camera (or phone), and what you see is what you pointed at, only with digital information layered on top of it in some way. Maybe it's "funny" (like paintballs being digitally shot at people on your screen - oh yeah, that'd be "funny"), or maybe it's informative like Wikipedia's Wikitude World Browser (right) which can bring up informative text layers about whatever you're shooting a picture of.
As Gizmodo has shown folks many, many times, there are piles of iPhone and Android augmented reality apps, some of which do stupid stuff like iPew, and some that do potentially useful stuff like Layar, an iPhone and Android app that tracks where federal bailout money is going right in front of you. I've also seen videos of a giant billboard in England that shows a giant hand manipulating people in a public square below it.
Are billboards like that going to change the world? Nah, I doubt it. But are they indicative of a potentially cool technology that drastically increases the potential for interactive communication, marketing, navigation, etc? You bet. Imagine pulling your wireless or cellular device up, pointing it at something and getting real-time information about the thing, the history of the thing, the history of the place surrounding the thing, and on and on. Take that, tricorder!
What sort of got me started thinking again about augmented reality (after weeks of turning my nose up at what I figured was merely tech-savvy doofusism) was Esquire magazine's second foray into the field (via a Gawker post). Esquire's December issue features a pointless cool cover with Robert Downey, Jr. who comes to life on your computer screen when you show the issue to a webcam. OK, so Downey is a little abrasive, but that's what we all adore about him. the point is that the magazine does more than jsut what a traditional magazine does, rhetorically speaking. Is that as cool as my tricorder idea? Not in my opinion, no. Is it still kind of cool? Yeah, I reckon. Check out a video of the cover in action below (or here if their embed code continues to not work).
Sesame Street is older than me. That's probably one of the many reasons I respect it, even look up to it. However, I also admire Sesame Street for the brilliant approaches it has taken over the years to build foundational language education. In many ways, Sesame Street was the foundation for my interest in language and rhetoric. And cookies. And being a Grouch.
Sesame Street started as an experiment, and - like our language itself - that experiment has undergone frequent revision. Now that I've got a little child, Sesame Street has rejoined our TV schedule. I was very surprised by the fact that, despite the frequent revisions, the songs, many of the characters, and - most importantly - the lessons are still familiar to me.
NPR did a fantastic story on Sesame Street this morning. You can check out the text of it here. Also, (I'm such a sucker for Google) Google has a blog post about their involvement with a project called Sesame Workshop. They also have a link up to the great Sesame Street anniversary images they've been running for the last week or so.
you look through a view-finder or at the screen of a digital camera (or phone), and what you see is what you pointed at, only with digital information layered on top of it in some way. Maybe it's "funny" (like paintballs being digitally shot at people on your screen - oh yeah, that'd be "funny"), or maybe it's informative like Wikipedia's Wikitude World Browser (right) which can bring up informative text layers about whatever you're shooting a picture of.
Are billboards like that going to change the world? Nah, I doubt it. But are they indicative of a potentially cool technology that drastically increases the potential for interactive communication, marketing, navigation, etc? You bet. Imagine pulling your wireless or cellular device up, pointing it at something and getting real-time information about the thing, the history of the thing, the history of the place surrounding the thing, and on and on. Take that, tricorder! 
